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”If any of them are spellcasters, the grasping plants that Grobradon can summon should hinder their ability to use magic. I’ll target them with my wand, timing my magic misslies to further disrupt their spells.” Maidie says as she checks her gear.
”Now, are everyone ready? We should move before the sun sets.”
"THanks for the praise, Betz." He says, seeing others know as much or more than he does about magical ogres. He listens to the tactics and nods
"I'm ready." Erigga says, fastening her shield behind her back, grabbing her sling and loading it.
"In case we have to withdraw, we should pack up the tent." Moon sets about getting that done as quickly as possible.
"In case we have to withdraw, we should pack up the tent." Moon sets about getting that done as quickly as possible.
The heroes approach the campsite, the ogre's laughter booming through the trees. As they draw closer, they can hear the bugbear and goblins laughing as well. The light is beginning to fade as the sun starts to disappear below the western horizon.
Betzolte's tromping towards the enemy gives her away almost immediately.
Moon follows a winding course, attempting to use cover to her best advantage.
Following the same route among the treetops as before, Maidie flies back towards the enemy camp, ready to rain down sharp, rocky death from above.
Grobradon considers turning into an owl, but that might be too much ahead of everyone but Maidie and if the battle started before he could change back to cast, it would throw off the strategy. Instead, he goes with the predictable for his crew, and ... uses nature to help. Camouflage, other tracks already done...
Despite being a frontline warrior, Erigga can be pretty sneaky.
The crackle of breaking twigs brings a moment of anxiety for a moment. After a moment, as it becomes clear that none of the monsters in the camp have taken notice of Betzolte's clumsiness, the heroes creep forward. As they approach, they can hear snatches of conversation. Those that understand the goblin tongue hear the ogre and bugbear trading stories and jokes about their past exploits.
Gliding on silent wings, the human wizard turned fairy moves closer still.
Moon slides around obstacles, trying to creep into a defensible position from which to attack. The group of fallen trees has potential.
Betzolte grimaces as she advances, fearing the moment she'll reveal them.
But it seems this modicum of caution has helped, as she manages to avoid making more noise!
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Ugh, twig. Bugger.
Trying not to curse as he continues to make use of existing animal paths and tree cover where he can find it, Grobradon keeps on moving
Erigga's misstep goes unnoticed, the snap of the twig drowned out by the laughter coming from camp. The tension rises higher as you all creep closer to the camp, the firelight throwing long, faint shadows on the ground. Emerald, despite her nerves, moves like a silent ghost through the snowy forest.
Maidie settles down among the top branches of a large tree where the leaves give her cover and she has a clear line of sight to the camp.
A couple more feet and Erigga reaches behind a couple logs. Still a bit distant from the camp, but perhaps she can still lob a bullet at one of the enemies.
Following Moon's path, a bit, he moves his way to her if he can. He's a clumsy bear trying to mimic a panther's moves metaphorically speaking but he's got her example
And Moon knows her S***, because following her example he closes behind Moon, whispers a spell, then suddenly she finds her skin as tough as oak.
Moon gives the half-orc a thumbs-up, then she and Histya creep just a bit closer…
Arrows (45): x
Blunts (45):
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Barkskin – 40 mins – AC/FF +2
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
Histya parts company with her mistress and slinks beneath a good-sized tree, ears flat, eyes focused on the targets. She is preparing to pounce at the right moment.
Emerald moves up to what appears to be a good place to shoot from, but slips on a patch of ice. The noise isn't loud, but it's enough to cause one of the goblins to perk up and look around for a moment before going back to the conversation at hand.
As the group closes in on the camp, Betzolte decides "Slag it!" and breaks into a run. At this point it was more about keeping up with her longer-legged (and winged) friends than avoiding notice.
Betz's mad dash to where the others are doesn't make as much noise as it could have, but it's enough to cause the goblin who had perked up when Emerald slipped to take a more thorough look around while trying to tell his companions to be silent. Fortunately for the Heroes of Kassen, it seems that the interruption of the others' relaxation is not well received and the silence where the laughter was is replaced by heckling jeers.
"Wot's dis, den? Jumpin' at shadows," the ogre sneers in his booming voice.
"I 'ave 'alf a mind ta put ye in tha stew pot," the bugbear adds.
"More meats be needin', yes," another of the goblins says, this one the one stirring the stew, as it eyes the other goblin.
"Don't much like goblin," the ogre says, "but that stew be lookin' mighty thin."
None of them have noticed you, yet, but the goblin appears to be insisting he heard something, despite the threat of winding up in the stewpot.
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Moon slowly rises, using the felled tree and the liberal dusting of snow on her for cover. She angles her bow up, aiming an arcing shot to fell the giant spider at the far side of the encampment. Fighting against the formidable pull of the bow, she draws the arrow back…
With visions of the perfect kill shot against the hapless target, she lets the arrow fly. Her catgut bowstring snaps and the arrow flies off into the night sky, wobbling like a drunkard. SON OF A…
She immediately ducks down and quickly begins restringing her bow.
Arrows (45): xx
Blunts (45):
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Barkskin – 40 mins – AC/FF +2
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
As soon as she sees Moon rise and shoot, Maidie completes the spell she has held ready in her mind.
The fabric between the planes tear in hundreds of tiny rifts, allowing a deadly shower of jagged obsidian shards to fall on the monsters around the campfire.
Then she draws her wand of magic missiles, in case she needs to target a spellcaster.
Grobradon moves closer and as soon as the stone hits, he follows up with an entangle as planned. The greenery in the area goes wild!
Betzolte chants a spell to gird her form, punctuating it with a bear-like roar as she advances!
Erigga creeps forward once more, spins her sling and soon there is a bullet flying towards the bugbear!
Emerald's song rings out as Moon stands. The monsters around the campfire turn as the heroes announce their presence. While Moon's misfortune with her bowstring prevents her accomplishing anything, The others are more effective. Erigga slings a bullet to crack in the bugbear's shoulder before Maidie's spell shreds two of the goblins and badly injures two more and the bugbear just before Grobradon's magics awaken the plants of the forest. The spider and its handler are both entangled while the ogre manages to avoid becoming trapped by the vines. The other three monsters die as vines and roots choke the life from them. The ogre roars as the fight begins in earnst.
Betzolte casts her growth spell again as she rises to equal the ogre in terms of stature!
With only three enemies standing after the initial onslaught, Maidie decides to preserve her memorized spells. Instead, she levels her wand at the clearing and prepares to use it to disrupt any signs of spellcasting from either the ogre or remaining goblin.
Bow restrung, Moon fires again. This time she aims at the ogre, since he isn’t restrained by the plants. As soon as her arrow is loosed, she moves along the log to a new position, gambling on the likely response.
Arrows (45): xx
Blunts (45):
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Barkskin – 40 mins – AC/FF +2
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
Emerald draws her bow and lets fly. Her aim is true and the ogre howls again, this time in pain as her arrow takes his eye. She scrambles through the logs to take cover behind one as the goblin begins to chant. Maidie's reflexes are quicker, though, and a barrage of magical darts whip through the air to land unerringly on their target. Between Maidie's magic and the backlash of the failed spell, the goblin is sent flying backwards into the brush and is out of the fight. The spider slips free and heads north, trying to get out of the reach of the grasping vines and roots, through it fails to make through quickly enough to avoid their attempts to snare it again.
The ogre, however, marches forward. The earth tremors as it ignores the rocks left by Maidie's spell. Its lone eye glows as it fixes its gaze on where Emerald has taken cover. Its skin hardens, looking more like rocky scales as the stones left on the forest floor gather into a clump the ogre sends streaking at the singing archer. Emerald's voice falters as she sees the flying shards, but she's too slow to avoid the hit as it sends her flying through the air to slam into Grobradon as her bow spins lazily off into the distance. The enchantment from Emerald's words fade as she takes precious moments to come back to her senses. The ogre continues to stalk towards the archer that had claimed its eye, unfazed by the plants trying to slow it.
With just the ogre up, Erigga pockets her sling as she jumps over the log she was hiding behind.
Betzolte casts another protective spell, conjuring mirror images to make her harder to hit. Her protective measures ready, she pounds her chest with one hand and bellows at the ogre, a clear challenge.
Grobradon catches Emerald and both of them fall in a heap as Betzolte grows to twice her height and Erigga jumps out to meet the ogre with shield in hand. The stunned dragon turned human girl is bruised and bleeding from roughly a dozen cuts and scrapes, including one over her right eye.
The ranger moves and fires another arrow at the occult (for lack of a better word) ogre.
Arrows (45): xxx
Blunts (45):
Iron Arrows (3):
Lead Blades (1):
Hero Points (3):
Kassen Battle Boon: 1x
Kassen Death Boon: 1x
Barkskin – 40 mins – AC/FF +2
Lead Blades – Rnd x of 10 – all my melee weapons act as one size larger
The ogre snarls as another arrow slams into it.
Down Grobradon goes, then he grumbles as Emerald lays on top of him, "First, good shot. Second, get off me before Moon thinks I'm enjoying this." He rises and begins to chant "Come and drink deep of the enemy."
”Looks like Moon’s instincts were right about something being off with that ogre." Maidie mutters to herself as she tries to figure out what the big brute just did.
Then she aims her wand at the ogre, determined to disrupt further magic abilities.
As you study the Ogre's movements, you realize that it is not casting spells. This is something else.
Emerald mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like an apology as she rolls off of Grobradon and onto her hands and knees. She's been rattled and battered, but otherwise she appears to fine. The ogre continues its relentless advance, but a combination of magic darts from Maidie and the grasping vines and roots from Grobradon's spell stops it at the edge of the writhing foliage and saves Emerald from taking another beating from a flurry of stones. The spider, meanwhile, flees.
Seeing that the ogre is close to collapse, Maidie holds her fire and waits for her friends to finish it off.